


Taking a Break

by hjea



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: 1979, ABBA concerts, Aliens, F/M, Gen, Hugging, Pre-Doomsday, disco kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-01
Updated: 2012-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-31 23:24:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hjea/pseuds/hjea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You spend all day everyday with just one person, eventually you're going to need a little break from them. Even if that person is the Doctor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking a Break

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 07/30/08.

“You want me to leave.”   
  
“Rose.” The Doctor shook his head. “I do  _not_  want you to leave.”   
  
“Yeah you do.” She was sitting on the bench, sullenly throwing bits of paper at the TARDIS’ console. “You’re sick of me.”   
  
The Doctor almost laughed, but thought better of it. “No, you’re the one who’s sick of me! You’ve been a bit…” He considered, “…hostile today.”   
  
Rose scowled. “I have not!”   
  
“Look, it’s perfectly natural!” The Doctor threw his hands up in the air and stepped closer to her, carefully avoiding the flying projectiles. “You spend all your time, everyday with just ONE person, you’re bound to get a little fed up with them eventually. It’s just human nature! Doesn’t matter how much you care about them; brothers and sisters, kids and parents, husbands and wives-“   
  
Rose started and stared at him. The Doctor tugged at his ear.   
  
“Er. Not that we’re, you know, like…” He coughed. “-Friends! Friends get sick of each other all the time.”   
  
The Doctor took another step towards her and, realizing he wasn’t going to be pelted this time, reached for her hand.   
  
“And friends let other friends go to live ABBA concerts in 1979 when they need a bit of a break.”   
  
Rose tilted her head to the side, considering. “I do like ABBA.”   
  
The Doctor nodded. “I figured as much. You know, after we saw  _Mamma Mia_ … four times.”  
  
He could see the familiar mischievous glint in her eyes now.   
  
“And the film.” Rose added cheekily.   
  
The Doctor winced. “Knew I shouldn’t have taken you to 2008.”   
  
“But you gotta admit, Doctor,” there was definitely a smile creeping around the edges of her mouth now, “Colin Firth was  _quite_  sexy.”   
  
He nodded seriously. “He does seem to have a lot of magnetism. Maybe too much. Sometimes I wonder…”   
  
She really did laugh this time. “Oh, shut it, you.”   
  
The Doctor grinned in response. “So, ABBA concert? 1979? You’ll have a great time, safe as houses, and you can tell me all about it when you get back?”   
  
Rose began to look a little uncertain again. “There won’t be anything… alien going on? With me there on my own?”   
  
“At an ABBA concert?” The Doctor scoffed. “No, believe me, that is something only  _humans_  could…” He trailed off at the sight of Rose’s raised eyebrow. “… have the ingenuity to er, appreciate. Sophisticated melodies and such.” He paused again. “No, no aliens.”   
  
Rose didn’t look quote convinced. “And you’re certain this isn’t some excuse to do something… timelordy without me for a few hours?”   
  
“Rose,” he shook his head again, “I have a time machine. It could only be a couple seconds for me before you’re back again.”  
  
“Yeah, time machine. That also means you could swan off for a couple of  _years_ , and have whole adventures and meet new… people and drink banana daiquiris in French castles and laugh about that silly human you left in 1979 and-“   
  
The Doctor felt his eyes widen in slight panic at the force of Rose’s words, but he finally managed to reply in as reassuring a manner as he could.   
  
“I promise I will NOT do any of those things.”   
  
Rose’s eyes searched his for what seemed a long amount of time. Finally, she smiled weakly. “Then I think I had better go, after all.”   
  
The Doctor clapped his hands together as much out of relief as anything. “Wonderful!” He flung himself onto the console and started the sequencing process. “I’ll just get us to the right place-“   
  
“-And I’ll go find something to wear!” Rose said gleefully, as she wound her way back to her closet. The Doctor turned his head after her.   
  
“Don’t take all day!” He called.   
  
“Time machine!” She shot back.   
  
***  
  
He could see her now, familiar blonde hair he’d know anywhere, winding her way back through the exiting crowd. And what with him standing, leaning against a big blue box, it didn’t take her much longer to spot him.   
  
“Doctor!” She waved her arm enthusiastically and, smiling, he waved back. A minute later, she managed to free herself from the crowd and came rushing toward him at full tilt and launched herself into his arms.   
  
“Missed you!” She breathed happily into his ear.   
  
The Doctor grinned, tongue pressing between his teeth, and tightened his grip on her. “Missed you too.”   
  
“I thought you said it’d only be a couple of seconds for you!” Rose thumped his shoulder, but her other hand still stayed pressed around his neck.  
  
“Yeah, well.” The Doctor pulled back so he could look into her face. “They were very long seconds.”   
  
Rose took his hand and squeezed it happily.   
  
“So how was the concert?”   
  
“Ooh, it was wonderful! They were fantastic live.” Rose bit her lip. “One thing you were wrong about though, Doctor.”   
  
“Oh yeah?” He swung their hands together. “What’s that?”   
  
“There  _were_  aliens.”   
  
The Doctor stopped and creased his brow in confusion. “What?”   
  
“Yeah, aliens. Called the… Bulingi, I think?” Rose was clearly struggling to keep the amusement out of her voice. “They somehow got it in their minds that all the disco kids were some kind of… sub-species pest, living off humanity. They were going around, transporting all them to an uninhabited planet of their own.”   
  
The Doctor’s jaw dropped. “No! No, no, no, no, no. You’re joking!”   
  
“Nope!” Rose’s eyes were shining. “It’s okay though, ‘cause I managed to convince them that the kids really were human, so they brought ‘em back and I told them it must’ve been a bad acid trip. And they believed me! And then I think the Bulingi told me to come round for tea, or be their queen or something. Not quite sure. And then the concert ended.”   
  
The Doctor felt quite sure that his jaw must have been somewhere around his knees, but he finally managed to speak.   
  
“You, Rose Tyler. You are… amazing.”   
  
“Careful, Doctor,” Rose pushed herself up on her tip-toes and leaned forward so her face was mere inches from his. “Or it’ll go to my head.”   
  
The Doctor touched his forehead to hers and breathed in deeply. “I’m glad you’re back.”   
  
Rose licked her lips. “Me too.”   
  
“Right!” The Doctor’s hand reached behind him, and opened the TARDIS’s door, beckoning her through. “Where to next, Ms. Tyler, Protector of Disco Kids everywhere?”   
  
Rose skipped up the ramp ahead of him and then turned around, familiar mischievous grin back firmly in place.   
  
“D’you think we could go see my mum? I’d LOVE to tell her about the concert.” 


End file.
